Nitza Kardish Featured in Laisha

Editor’s note: Trendlines Incubators Israel CEO Nitza Kardish was among the women executives featured in the Hebrew-language women’s magazine, Laisha. Interviewees were asked to describe a management mistake they made.

Nitza Kardish describes a mistake she made as a young manager of a medical device start-up.

Nitza recounted that when she was a “young manager” of a medical device start-up, she led negotiations with a large American company related to their acquisition of the company. In parallel, she supervised contacts with other players.

As the process with the American company advanced, “I neglected the contacts with the other players,” Nitza said, “and focused only on the more mature negotiations. But, during the very last stages of closing the agreement with the potential acquirers, they stopped the negotiations due to factors that had nothing to do with us. Because of my excessive confidence, I had eliminated all the other options and stayed with one that ultimately collapsed.

“What I learned from this is while there is a heady feeling when you go after something you want, it’s important not be deceived by it and to explore several options in parallel.”